CHARMING CINQUE TERRA

June 28.09 – Camping Aqua Dolce -2nd night
http://www.camping.it/english/liguria/laspezia/scheda-496.aspx
This is the only link I can find in English. If you go to www.campingacquadolce.com you will find it in about 5 other languages.
The day is blue and gorgeous! A perfect day to explore the 5 tiny seaside towns of Cinque Terra that I have waited so long to get too. We walked through town to the train station, bought our tickets for 8.50 euros each (good till midnight) and hopped on a train heading to Montesrossa. Once off the train you are immediately on a beachside walkway lined with palm trees, small shops and cafes. This was our breakfast/café stop and we found a table overlooking all the umbrellas on the beach. The water is turquoise, clear, and warm. A temperature in between swimming in Thailand and the West Coast. Really nice and refreshing. I see why everyone raves about this coastline. I could’ve stayed here all day, but we did want to see the whole area today so we got back on the train and took it to the Rio Maggiore which coming from our way would be the last town and we’ll work our way back.
It is an easy half hour walk to the next town, Manarola the Via dell Amorre (the road of love) as they famously name it. There are lots of locks on chains and on the 2 hearts that signal the start of this walk. As the path hugs its way around the mountainside there are spots where you can go right down to the water. The Italians have no problem swimming off the rocks and lounging on them like seals. It was so hot out and at one point there was a perfect area down to the ocean so the kids and I took advantage of the moment and jumped in with everyone else. The water was so clear and refreshing. Just writing about this again makes me want to go back. Levanto has been a holiday spot for Italians for a very long time and I can understand why they keep coming back. It’s so laid back and easy to hang out here. Back to our walk. We cruised through Manarola and onto Cornigula which takes about an hour to reach. This little town is perched up on top of the mountain so you are blessed with having to walk up 382 steps (see picture in the CT album on facebook) in the heat then back down again to take the train to Vernazza. This walk is about double the distance and the train takes 5 minutes. Vernazza is bustling with people and the busiest of all the towns. It’s hard to find a spot of sand at the tiny beach in the harbour here so we walked around and looked at all the laundry hanging out to dry, had some pizza and beer in the square, missed a train so people watched for an extra hour and then caught a train back to Levanto around 6pm. There are sweet looking B&B type places or small hotels in each town so you can stay right there hike during the day, hang out on the rocks, shop, eat great food and relax, as I know my friend Sherry likes to do.

Back at camp we made pasta, of course, and took it upon myself to deal with all the dirty clothes that have been piling up. This site has a good set of washer and dryers and they were empty so did the washing 10pm till 12:30am!

We all sensed that we had found a goldmine of a spot so we decided to stay put for another day and just take it easy, also not in a hurry to leave Italy.

June 29.09 – Camping Aqua Dolce – hang out day in camp

The employees at the campground this morning were all anxiously watching the TV and talking wildly back and forth with each other. Mom managed to get out of one lady who spoke a little English that a train carrying gas had derailed and exploded just South of where we were. After looking it up in the news, we found out it was a pretty bad train accident killing people sleeping in their homes and others who were just blown by the shock of the blast and covered in flames. Horrible tragedy and so close to us. We had just driven by this area a couple days before on our way from Florence to Cinque Terra.

We noticed that we also dodged some extremely heavy flood rains up in the Ceczh Republic as well. They are having some serious rain up there now. Luckily, we had beautiful weather and saw Prague in all it’s glory.

Today we’ve decided to just stay put and hang out in this sweet water town and soak up one more day of the Italian life. The sky is overcast, but still a nice temperature. Meg and I went for a run after uploading pictures and taking advantage of the free internet (which is hard to find around here). There are great roads for running on, either along the ocean or up in the olive groves on small roads. Levanto has an old church and remains of a castello that once protected the town so every hour and on the quarter hour the church bells ring. It’s one of these places where you hate to leave because you’re not sure if you’ll find anything else as enchanting and relaxing as this again. Mom and I went into town to have a look around at 2:00pm, but quickly realized the place was empty. The main square had no one in it whereas the morning was busy with all kinds of folks. They mean it when they take their siesta time from 1:00 until 4:30ish…some later. This is your time to sleep, rest, do whatever at home that doesn’t require a store to be open.
Levanto is not officially part of the Cinque Terra park, but is the next town after Monterossa and has a rough trail connecting to it. The book says the trail is not well marked and takes 2 hours.
Dada and I decided to try out the trail and started up towards Monterossa. We were gone 1.5hours with a lot of going up the hillside and getting lost in small olive grove trails through people’s private property. The trail is not well marked and it is a rough trail but not without stunning views overlooking the ocean. Absolutely gorgeous!! Houses are built into the steep mountainsides with 180degree views of pure blue water. LIgura as this area is called, is quickly becoming a favorite Italian spot of mine.
Went down for Gelato after dinner and walked back through town. Tired after a lot of hiking, running, and general lounging about.